Technically speaking, they are better because without them the newer ones wouldn't exist and they wouldn't have improved so much! But when it comes down to the gist of things, the new ones are better in terms of music, storyline, bonus features (esp. with the remakes), art, etc. But then again, that's kind of expected of newer games ._.;

There is a part of me that would like to see revamps of the old sprites in newer games, though.